Chinese tech giant Alibaba releasing a new reasoning version of its AI assistant, but would it be

enough to help boost Apple sales in the AI hungry Chinese market if it ends up landing on iPhones

this year? Adir Dobosa has more in today's tech check on a week where we are definitely

watching every Apple story, Dee. Every Apple story, which makes the stake so much higher because that backdrop,

it's getting ugly. Apple is losing Wall Street. It's lost John Gerber, long time Apple whisper.

And what I'm increasingly hearing in my own tech circle here, a sense of wonder that Apple could

have messed this up so badly, this being AI. Now, there is the old adage. Apple is rarely first to market,

but it's first to get it right. It focuses on perfecting the user experience and design rather

than being the first mover. Clearly, though, that is wearing thin. And AI, of course,

is seen as the most important shift in a generation at least for Apple. It's key, of course,

to iPhone sales. But there could be a flicker

of hope in the Chinese market. Apple has found its AI partner in Alibaba, and Alibaba has been

the hottest AI stock in Chinese tech or otherwise this year. Overnight, it released a new version

of its AI assistant powered by new reasoning capabilities that can handle more complex questions.

It would presumably go into the iPhone rollout.

Now, getting that rollout, though, of Apple intelligence right in China, it could help boost

Apple's AI image, a chance to regain some of the narrative and turn around falling

shipments in one of its most important markets, especially since China is also a market

where users are far more

eager to embrace and pay for AI smartphone features.

A 2024 canalysis survey showed that 43% of Chinese consumers had a high to very high interest

in AI-capable smartphones, while that category for U.S. consumers, it was just 15%.

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